UPDATE 5: We've done it! With the addition of these four versions, we've exceeded the number of versions of Tico Tico, and it's still rising. Will we reach 100 versions? Including in this batch is one by the National Cynical Network, which combined the first 50 or so covers for their version, and a mashup by DJ Earworm. Thanks Phineas, Earworm, Maarten and Noah!

UPDATE 6: Alas, only two one new version to add today, plus a famous old andt-Stairway diatribe. But more are reportedly on the way. Thanks to Rich, Steven and Barrett! (Later, I realized I already linked Richard Cheese. This is a bad sign, when even I've lost track of what's up here...)

UPDATE 9: As we approach the 100 mark, I should announce now my intention to not turn Stairway To Heaven into my life's work - I'll be stopping additions when I reach 101 versions, although after that point, I'll add new versions that are outstanding or unusual, and retire some of the more boring verrsions I've already posted. Here's seven more, thanks to Nan and Mr. You-Know-Who.

UPDATE 10: With these eight versions, we make it to a nice round 101 covers, and I hereby end this little project there. (I removed two other versions, one of which was a duplicate, and another which was a Zeppelin acoustic version!) I'm still open to receiving more versions and I may occasionally rotate dull versions out for new, unusual versions. But no more daily updates. Thanks to Diego, NaN and M-Slick da ninjA for this final round, and thanks to everyone else who submitted versions in the last week!

UPDATE 11: I've eliminated a few misspellings pointed out in the comments, and also deleted links to identical songs with different titles. As a result, we've fallen below 101 versions. If anyone has a version not here, e-mail me at ken at wfmu dot org and I'll add it, so we can get back to 101. (I'm counting the backwards Dutch version as one of the original 101 versions.)

UPDATE 12: We're back up to 101 versions. Thanks Delano and Jeff! The previous version by Heart was in fact Ann Wilson solo, this is Heart live from 1976.

I can't believe you left out perhaps the greatest cover of "Stairway" ever recorded: Finnish unicorn-pompadoured, elfen-shoed superstars Leningrad Cowboys, backed by the Soviet Red Army Mens Choir, off their tandem album "Happy Together."

There has been much to love about the WFMU blog. But only now do I bow and grovel before thee. And quote Pratchett:

"and then go down to the docks and hire a troll and tell him to stand in the corner and if anyone else comes in and tries to play 'Pathway to Paradise', I think they said it's called.......he's to pull their head off."
"What about a warning?"
"That will be the warning."

Some small clips, I wish I had the whole thing: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/Stairway.html

The Led Zepplin song "Stairway to Heaven" is a rock classic for some critics. Whether or not you agree, its notoriety is assured by the thousands of would-be guitarists who can play the first dozen bars badly: it is to the guitar what "Chopsticks" is to the piano. But what if Jimmy Page & Robert Plant hadn't written it? What if it had been written for orchestra in the 19th or 20th centuries? For a publicity stunt, "The Stairway Suite" was commisioned by the University of New South Wales Orchestra and written by Joe Wolfe. The clips below are from the original performance by UNSWO, with Colin Piper conducting. Recording engineer: Emery Schubert.

Okay for the record, that's not the Mothers of Invention playing it. It's the Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. Frank dropped the Mothers name in the 70's and toured under his own name for the remainder of his career. Most frequently he would refer to the backing band as the Rockin' Teenage Combo. And no, Frank did not do his best stuff in the late 60's.

i am searching my old cassette tapes to find a STH version i had accidentally taped off of the radio in the 80s by this band called the Power Generation - a total 80s synth out. crossing my fingers i can find it. perhaps someone has it out there?

Lenigrad Cowboys is the coolest version, The hard-Ons is the funniest. The Dutch cat's backwards version is awesome.He reminded me a bit of Gary Oldman playing the role of a deaf rock and roller. Oh wait, he did that in Immortal Beloved...